


The music between them

by megyal



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-08-07
Updated: 2009-08-07
Packaged: 2017-10-11 10:21:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/111356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megyal/pseuds/megyal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke are the two most popular members of the successful band 'KNA'. Interviews with them are interesting, to say the very least.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The music between them

**Author's Note:**

> I love fics that have any mention of a band; every time I read an interview about a band I like, I always wonder about the things that were said or were left unsaid, and I guess this my interpretation of the prompt. 'KNA' is based on a real favourite band of mine, by the way (all my bandom people in the house say hey!).

SOUNDLAB MAGAZINE: WE KNOW WHERE THE HITS ARE INVENTED.

SPECIAL SUMMER ISSUE! INTERVIEW WITH NARUTO AND SASUKE FROM KNA!! PAGE 13, WITH A FULL COLOUR PULL-OUT POSTER OF OUR BOYS!  


*

PAGE 13:   
**'The Music Between Them'**  
_Interview by Haruno Sakura | Photos by Hatake Kakashi_

Arranging an interview with any member of KNA is probably harder than emptying a pool with a spoon, and if you're trying to get to lead singer Uzumaki Naruto or lead-guitarist/lyricist Uchiha Sasuke, then you might as well try your luck with draining the sea. Luckily, your intrepid reporter _grew up_ with these two powerhouses. (That sounds like bragging, but I knew them when they were playing awful riffs in the basement of the small house that belonged to Naruto's foster-brother, or touring birthday parties and getting booed off the stage by twelve-year-olds.)

Getting an interview is still hard, but apparently threatening to publish baby photos makes the whole process just a bit easier.

Our interview takes place in an upper level suite in the Imperial Hotel, with a fantastic view of a beautiful park, the rest of the city sprawled out in hazy lines around it. Naruto is slightly later than Sasuke, who actually is waiting for our tiny magazine team as we're escorted by bodyguards into the room. Sasuke, ever the dark and brooding heartthrob, gives us a bored glance as he lounges near the window, but he smiles slightly when I greet him as 'Sasuke-kun.' He says it brings back memories.

Naruto bounces into the room a few minutes later, his hair as gleaming as bright as his smile, and everyone wonders where he gets his energy from. They have a show later, and Naruto looks ready for it right now. After some bickering between the two, we're ready to begin:

>  
> 
> **HARUNO SAKURA: Now, for all those who don't know, what's the meaning of the name KNA?**
> 
> UCHIHA SASUKE: Apparently, those who don't know live under a rock.
> 
> UZUMAKI NARUTO: Come on, don't be like that. KNA means Konoha Ninja Academy. That's where most of the band is from, Konoha. And you remember, when we were kids, I was always going on about how I wanted to be the best ninja in the whole world--
> 
> SASUKE: That was probably the stupidest dream in the whole world.
> 
> NARUTO: But it was MY dream! I mean, ninjas are cool! They have all these codes and they're so dedicated and I really wanted to go to some weird school and learn to be one. My foster-brother, Iruka, he used to amuse me by pretending he was a ninja teacher. We'd throw stars and jump off walls. It was the best ever.
> 
> SASUKE: *laughs* Your brother is as crazy as you are, then. And he looks so normal.
> 
> NARUTO: Shut up. So anyway, when we were looking for a good name for the band, Iruka was like, "You should name it Konoha Ninjas," but Sasuke thought that was dumb, and then he said, "Well, how about Konoha Ninja Academy, because you've all learned a lot, and you're ready to graduate in life."
> 
> SASUKE: That sounded really corny at the time, but I guess it worked for us and the kind of changes we were going through as people.
> 
> **SAKURA: What kind of changes?**
> 
> SASUKE: Well... my parents didn't really approve of me seriously joining a band. They thought it would be just a hobby for a time, that I'd go work with my father at Uchiha Electronics. But my brother went to work for a rival company and everything was resting on me.
> 
> NARUTO: But he didn't want that, that wasn't his dream.
> 
> SASUKE: Are you the one telling my story or me? Can I tell my own story, please?
> 
> NARUTO: SHEESH! Fine, go ahead, tell your precious story.
> 
> SASUKE: Thanks so much. Anyway, I decided that I'd just have to do what was best for me. That's just part of growing up. That's it.
> 
> NARUTO: I could have told a better story than that.
> 
> SASUKE: You wish.
> 
> **SAKURA: Great, now that the whole naming thing is out of the way, let's hear about this relationship you guys have.**
> 
> NARUTO: Relationship?! Uh, what?
> 
> **SAKURA: Yeah, where Sasuke writes the words and you sing them. You have to admit that is a strange kind of arrangement in any band.**
> 
> NARUTO: Oh. _That_ relationship. Yeah, okay.
> 
> SASUKE: Yes, well... it just happened that way, I guess. We used to just cover other bands and it was fun for awhile. Then Naruto discovered some stuff I used to write in high school. He and (bass-guitarist) Gaara arranged them into lyrics and they weren't bad. A lot of my earlier lyrics were kind of dark, though.
> 
> NARUTO: Dark, as in death and broken hearts and losing battles.
> 
> SASUKE: Yes, that kind of dark.
> 
> NARUTO: But they were good. I like those dark ones. I'm not good at writing lyrics at all, but I think I can say I know what good lyrics are when I see them. And those were genius. They're like... I dunno, a sword to my soul.
> 
> SASUKE: You don't have to kiss up to me, you know.
> 
> NARUTO: I'm not kissing up to you! Can't you take a compliment?
> 
> SASUKE: Alright. Thanks, I guess.
> 
> **SAKURA: But your lyrics have lightened up recently. Some reviewers even pointed out that there was even a love-song in your last album.**
> 
> SASUKE: If you want to call it that, yes. There was a song about finding someone to love, or the surprise of knowing that you can be loved.
> 
> **SAKURA: That would be 'The Valley at the End'.**
> 
> SASUKE: That's the one.
> 
> **SAKURA: Care to give your interpretation of that song? Everyone seems to have their own analysis; it would be good to get it from the horse's mouth.**
> 
> SASUKE: Well... the whole song is about struggling against what you feel you don't want. It's about a fight to death, almost, against someone who just wants you to stay with them, to be with them and you don't believe that you deserve any of what they want you to have. It's the whole incredulity of love, you know? 'Why is this person here with me? What the hell can I give them in return for what they're giving me?'
> 
> NARUTO: Is THAT what that song is about?
> 
> SASUKE: Are you serious? You're singing it all this time and you _don't even know_?
> 
> NARUTO: No, it's... no, I really get the part about the struggling, I just... for me, it's not too much about who deserves love and whatever. I mean, I know what you're saying, I didn't mean to imply that I didn't have any idea at all, I just wasn't aware that _that_ was what you were thinking when you wrote it.
> 
> SASUKE: Well, what did you get from it, then?
> 
> NARUTO: I think that it really speaks to me about perseverance.
> 
> SASUKE: Really now.
> 
> NARUTO: Yes, _really_. It's about hanging on as best as you can, even when you're unsure of what the other person feels. It's like, every day, you hope that this person understands what you're trying to do for them, how much you want to do it and never giving up. You can't give up on love, even at the Valley at the End.
> 
> SASUKE: Hmm. I didn't know you got that from it. That's interesting.
> 
> NARUTO: Yeah, I know!
> 
> **SAKURA: So talk to me about other relationships you guys have. All our female readers are dying to know about girlfriends, future wives... so on.**
> 
> NARUTO: Oh man, do we have to talk about that?!
> 
> **SAKURA: YES.**
> 
> SASUKE: Well, for me, I'm completely dedicated to the music. The music is everything. It takes up nearly every part of my mind. I don't have time for anything else, sorry.
> 
> **SAKURA: Oh, what a pity. And you, Naruto?**
> 
> NARUTO: What?
> 
> **SAKURA: What about you? Have you forgotten the question already?**
> 
> NARUTO: Oh... no. I... I don't have any time for anything else, either! *laughs*
> 
> SASUKE: Are you _really_ sure about that?
> 
> NARUTO: Are you asking me or telling me?
> 
> SASUKE: I'm asking. You always look like the type to fall in love so hard, you'd break your thick skull.
> 
> NARUTO: Maybe I need some time to think this one over.   
> 

 

*

We have lunch on the patio for our break. Naruto, as far as I could remember, was usually a loud and happy eater, slopping food all over the place. For some reason, he seems somewhat subdued as we eat. I take the opportunity to steal glances at them; everyone who's ever been to a KNA show knows why the cameras are nearly always glued to Sasuke and Naruto. They're contrasting opposites that seem to lock against each other, the quintessential yin and yang.

There are a few quick calls from their handlers and bodyguards, and they field text-messages from their taciturn bassist, Gaara, and their hyperactive drummer, Rock Lee. We sit in an island of quiet for a few moments, enjoying the relative calm before the storm of their show that will break into the eardrums of thousands of fans in the nearby stadium.

As we get back to where we left off, I remember the boys I had grown up with. They're still there, apparent in Naruto's wide grin or Sasuke's cool dark gaze, but they're different; so immeasurably different.

*  


>  
> 
> **SAKURA: So, let's go back to the last question that Naruto was thinking over. Any girlfriend? Significant other?**
> 
> NARUTO: I wouldn't say girlfriend, not really.
> 
> **SAKURA: Oh, so there IS someone. A thousand teen hearts are breaking as they read this, I hope you realise.**
> 
> NARUTO: Oh, no, I wouldn't want to break all those hearts! But Sasuke is right, when I fall, I fall kind of hard. So there IS someone I've fallen over, but it's kind of tricky.
> 
> **SAKURA: Oh, forbidden love. That's so romantic!**
> 
> SASUKE: Hmph.
> 
> NARUTO: Nah, it's not forbidden. Or, it's not forbidden as much as it's just not possible. That's just the way it is.
> 
> **SAKURA: Let me play matchmaker here. Have you told her?**
> 
> NARUTO: Aahaha.... um. I haven't told, uh, her. Not in so many words. But let's just drop it, it's just something that I'll get over, sooner or later. Hopefully sooner!
> 
> **SAKURA: Alright. Let's move on to something a little more serious. In the album before this, a serious rift occurred between you two, and the band came really close to breaking up.**
> 
> SASUKE: Yes, that's right.
> 
> **SAKURA: Can you talk about that?**
> 
> SASUKE: Do you want to, or should I?
> 
> NARUTO: You can go ahead.
> 
> SASUKE: It was a matter of differing personalities, I suppose. I had wanted to move onto a different style of music and Naruto didn't. It came between our friendship and it took a lot of work to bring it back to us being comfortable with each other again.
> 
> NARUTO: Gaara and Lee helped out. Those two, they don't get as much attention as we do, which is really sad. They're a very important part of this band. Without them, there wouldn't _be_ a band. So when Sasuke and I got to a point where we just weren't talking to each other--
> 
> SASUKE: That was very immature of you.
> 
> NARUTO: Just be quiet! What was I saying? Oh, right. So Gaara and Lee kind of bullied us into the realization of what we were doing, what we were sacrificing over pride. So, I guess that I learned to give up what I thought was the direction of the band. It worked out in the end, to me, at least.
> 
> SASUKE: Thanks for that. I don't know if I told you, but thanks.
> 
> NARUTO: Oh... oh, you're welcome, Sasuke. But, just so that everyone knows, when Sasuke says he's very dedicated to the music, it's true. His dedication is probably what pushes us up and over all our dreams. And our fans, of course!
> 
> SASUKE: And... Naruto probably thinks he's up there just singing the words, but that's not true. He IS the music.
> 
> NARUTO: ...What?
> 
> SASUKE: Well, this was a great interview, Sakura. It was nice seeing you and maybe we can do this again.
> 
> **SAKURA: No, thank you. I'm really proud of you guys. All of Konoha is. Good luck to you and the rest of KNA.**
> 
> SASUKE: Thanks.   
> 

 

*

The screams fill the air as Rock Lee starts the hypnotic beat; the kick-drums control everyone's heartbeat. Naruto yells at the crowd and the crowd responds in paroxysms of joy. Gaara's bass-guitar rumbles underneath the quick notes, clever notes that Sasuke coaxes out of his instrument.

Naruto, who has a surprisingly seductive rasp, what one might call a smoker's voice (even though he hates the idea of smoking), saunters over to Sasuke and stands in front of him, singing into his microphone and pressing his forehead against Sasuke's. Words of desperation and pain and hope pour out from him, and he believes in every word he's singing.

There is wind and lightning and music between them.

_fin_


End file.
